Rita Ann Higgins
Rita Ann Higgins (born 1955) is an Irish poet and playwright. Life A native of Ballybrit, Galway, Higgins was one of 13 children in a working-class household. She married in 1973 but following the birth of her second child in 1977, contracted tuberculosis, forcing her to spend an extended period in a sanatorium. While confined, she began reading, and soon took to composing poems. She joined the Galway Writers' Workshop in 1982. Jessie Lendennie, editor of Salmon Publishing, encouraged Higgins, and oversaw the publication of her first five collections. She was Galway County's Writer-in-Residence in 1987, Writer in Residence at the National University of Ireland, Galway, in 1994-95, and Writer in Residence for Offaly County Council in 1998-99. She was Green Honors Professor at Texas Christian University in October 2000. She is a member of Aosdána, though the group turned her down five times previously. She cites the feminist, Mary Wollstonecraft, and the Irish Republican, Mary MacSwiney, as role models. She lives in Galway and An Spidéal. Writing Poetry Foundation: "Higgins’s frank, wry poems often look squarely at economic and gender-based inequalities. Calling hers a 'smart, sassy, unabashed, female working class voice in Irish writing' in a 2011 Irish Times review of Ireland Is Changing Mother, Fintan O’Toole observes that 'the anger in her work is transmuted into invention and absurdity, and it rubs shoulders with other deliciously deadly sins, like lust and pride.'Rita Ann Higgins b. 1955, Poetry Foundation, Web, Oct. 6, 2012. Recognition She is the recipient of the Peadar O’Donnell Award, several arts council grants, and residencies granted by National University of Ireland-Galway, Offaly County Council, and Galway City Library. Sunny Side Plucked was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. She was made an honorary fellow at Hong Kong Baptist University in November 2006. Publications Poetry * Goddess on the Mervue Bus. Galway, Ireland: Salmon, 1986, 1993. * Witch in the Bushes. Galway, Ireland: Salmon, 1988. * Goddess and Witch. Auburn, Ireland: Salmon, 1990. * Philomena's Revenge: Poems. Galway, Ireland: Salmon, 1992. * Higher Purchase. Cliffs of Mohare, Co. Clare, Ireland: Salmon, 1996. * Sunny Side Plucked: New and selected poems. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Bloodaxe, 1996. * An Awful Racket. Tarset, Northumberland, UK: Bloodaxe, 2001. * Throw in the Vowels: New & selected poems. 2005 *''Hurting God: Part essay part rhyme''. Cliffs of Mohare, Co. Claire, Ireland: Salmon, 2010. * Ireland Is Changing Mother. Tarset, Northumberland, UK: Bloodaxe, 2011. Plays * Face Licker Come Home: A play in one act. Galway: Salmon, 1991. * Down all the Roundabouts; or, No one is entitled to a view. 1999. Edited *''Out the Clare Road: The Offaly anthology''. Offaly, Ireland: Offaly County Council, 1999. *''Word and Image: A collection of poems from Sunderland Women’s Centre and Washington Bridge Centre''. 2000. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Rita Ann Higgins, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Sep. 22, 2014. See also * List of Irish poets References External links ;Poems *"The Immortals" * Rita Ann Higgins b. 1955 at the Poetry Foundation ;Audio / video *Rita Ann Higgins at YouTube ;About *"Rita Ann Higgins: The fearless poetic voice," The Advertiser *Rita Ann Higgins at Ricorso.net * Rita Ann Higgins Official website. *"Poet forced to pulp book after row with her family," The Independent *"Poetry of Rita Ann Higgins on Cúirt literary trail in Galway," Irish Times *"Looking at Being Someone: Class and gender in the poetry of Rita Ann Higgins," Irish University Review Category:People from County Galway Category:Irish poets Category:Irish dramatists and playwrights Category:Aosdána members Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:Irish women poets Category:Irish writers Category:20th-century Irish writers Category:21st-century Irish writers Category:20th-century poets Category:21st-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets Category:Irish women writers Category:20th-century women writers